THREATS:

Perhaps the overall threat to the CSD is that if
the same mistakes are made next year, the CSD will prove to be the
paper tiger that many have warned about. In this respect, the
future success of the Commission is being held hostage to the
international economic climate. Until the developed countries
emerge from the current recession, there will be no substantial
increase in official development assistance (ODA) flows and,
without this, the current impasse over financial resources,
technology transfer and Agenda 21 commitments will remain.

There is also the threat of conference fatigue. In 1994 practically
every week of the year contains at least one conference or meeting
on sustainable development. UN delegates are exhausted and have
little time or energy to prepare for the next conference or
meeting. Unless there are fewer meetings with better preparation
and appropriate representation from countries and agencies, little
will be accomplished.

There is also the threat of the CSD's potential monitoring role.
Many countries do not want the CSD to become another Commission on
Human Rights that can review countries' sustainable development
performance and list those that have not made progress since the
Earth Summit. Yet, without the ability to monitor national
performance, the CSD will turn into an institution that can only
monitor UN agency implementation of Agenda 21, which is only the
tip of the iceberg.